Secretary of State Jon Husted has said several times that voter fraud is rare but it exists – and that’s why he says he reviews the voting rolls. Husted says he's found hundreds who should not be registered to vote, and he wants the federal government to help him find more.

Secretary of State Jon Husted has said several times that voter fraud is rare but it exists – and that’s why he says he reviews the voting rolls. Hustged says he’s found hundreds who should not be registered to vote, and he wants the federal government to help him find more.

This new review found 145 non-citizens registered to vote, and 27 of them actually cast ballots. This brings the total number of non-citizens registered to vote in Ohio to 436, out of 7.7 million registered voters. Husted says these are felonies, but likely are mistakes – but they need to be caught.

“How many violations of the law should we tolerate before we think it’s a big deal? I don’t think it’s any.”

These non-citizens were found with Bureau of Motor Vehicles data. Husted has asked the feds for access to social security numbers as well.

Ohio’s elections chief plans to discuss potential illegal voting activity in the perennial swing state along with his efforts to keep updated voter rolls.

Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted has scheduled a Thursday afternoon press conference in Columbus. His office says he is expected to brief members of the media on voting irregularities involving non-citizens in last year’s election.

After the 2012 presidential election, Husted conducted a first-of-its-kind statewide review of reports of voter fraud and other irregularities in Ohio. It found that fraud cases were rare. County elections boards also were instructed to look for voter suppression, but found no documented cases of voters being denied ballots.

Husted has said he expects increased scrutiny in 2016, as Republicans hold their presidential nominating convention in Cleveland.

Ohio’s secretary of state is seeking a review of last year’s election for any instances of voter suppression or fraud in the perennial battleground state.

Republican Secretary of State Jon Husted (HYOO’-sted) said Wednesday he would direct local elections officials to conduct a review of any irregularities reported to them.

Husted sought a similar review in 2012 and found that fraud cases were rare.

The directive was among the priorities he discussed for his new term in office during a speech to the Ohio Association of Election Officials.

Husted is again calling for online voter registration. He also wants to ensure that Ohioans can track their absentee ballots online, as military voters already do. He said he would like to see it ready to go before the 2016 primary elections.

The sponsor of a plan to overhaul the way Ohio draws state legislative districts says negotiators are moving closer to a deal over the process.

The state alters district lines to reflect population shifts identified by the U.S. Census once every 10 years. The line-drawing process is called redistricting. Both political parties have acknowledged flaws in Ohio’s system.

An Ohio House committee delayed a Wednesday morning hearing on a redistricting proposal to allow time for Democratic and Republican negotiators to finalize an agreement.

State Rep. Matt Huffman, who sponsored the plan, declined to discuss specific changes being made to the proposal. But he said if an agreement comes together, the House committee could approve it later Wednesday. He said he hoped the full House would vote on it Thursday.

The Franklin County Board of Elections says it’s fixed a computer glitch that had about 50 people waiting in line this morning to cast an early ballot.

“As best we can determine, the problem was caused by a competing program on our Web site. We’ve since closed that, so that won’t be an issue any more,” says board of elections spokesman Ben Piscatelli.

The voter registration deadline for this fall’s election is nearing. Ohioans should double check now to make sure they are registered to vote.

There are only a few days left to register or update your voter registration. The voter registration deadline is the end of the business day, Monday October 6th.

There’s one easy way to know whether you are properly registered for this election. If you received an application in the mail in recent weeks asking you if you’d like to vote absentee, you are likely registered at the correct address.

If you did not receive that communication, it’s a good idea to go online to the Secretary of State’s website to check your registration. You can make some changes online. But some Ohioans, particularly those who haven’t voted in recent elections, might no longer be on the voter rolls. If that’s the case, you will have to register to vote again. And you will likely have to do that, in person, at your local boards of election since the deadline is just days away.

But after this week’s US Supreme Court decision upholding a law getting rid of the so-called “Golden Week”, first time voters cannot register and cast a provisional ballot on the same day.

Attorneys for the state of Ohio have formally asked the full federal appeals court to review a lawsuit affecting the swing state’s early voting schedule.

Ohio’s attorneys said in a Wednesday court filing that immediate action is needed to reverse a judge’s order that allows early ballots to be cast next week.

U.S. District Judge Peter Economus has temporarily blocked an Ohio law trimming early voting and ordered Secretary of State Jon Husted to set additional times, including evening hours. The order moved the start of early voting to Sept. 30 instead of Oct. 7.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati upheld the judge’s order Wednesday.

The state is appealing the panel’s decision and wants the full court to grant a rehearing.

A federal judge has blocked an Ohio law trimming early voting and ordered the swing state’s elections chief to set an expanded voting schedule.

The ruling Thursday from U.S. District Judge Peter Economus comes in a lawsuit filed by civil rights groups and others challenging two early-voting measures.

One is a directive from Secretary of State Jon Husted setting uniform voting times that restricted weekend and evening hours. Another is a law that eliminates so-called “golden week” – when people could both register to vote and cast ballots.

The judge sided with groups that claimed the changes hurt low-income and black voters disproportionately. The state argued the organizations couldn’t prove the rules illegally place an undue burden on voters.

Voting is under way in Ohio’s primary election that will cull the field of candidates for state and U.S. House posts.

Polls will remain open Tuesday until 7:30 p.m.

The election also will determine the outcome of one statewide ballot issue, along with about 600 local issues.

In the race for Ohio governor, the Democratic leader of the state’s most populous county was looking past a little-known Dayton-area activist to take on Gov. John Kasich in November. Most observers believe Larry Ellis Ealy, of Trotwood, has little chance against Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald, the Democrats’ endorsed candidate.

Voters will choose whether to renew a public works program that funds repairs and upgrades to roads, bridges and other local infrastructure.

In Franklin County, voters will decide a permanent levy request from the Columbus Zoo that would increase property taxes by about $22 a year for every $100,000 of home value.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is suing the state in federal court over early voting changes that are scheduled to take effect this fall.

Back in 2012, a lawsuit was filed by the Obama campaign because state leaders had passed legislation that had taken away some key early voting opportunities. The court ruled voting options on the weekend before the election must be offered.

Earlier this year, Ohio lawmakers passed another bill that took away a week of early voting when people could both register to vote and cast a ballot at the same time. And Secretary of State Jon Husted ordered that uniform hours be in place at all boards of elections across the state, and that voting on the Sunday and Monday before Election Day would be eliminated.

ACLU attorney Sean Young says in all, the voting opportunities being denied as a result of this new law are significant.

“Together these legislative and administrative cuts to early voting have eliminated the days and times used by more than 157,000 voters to cast ballots in the 2012 presidential election. And to put that number in perspective, the 2012 election was decided by fewer than 167,000 votes in Ohio,” Young says.

Young says the new law and Hustedâ€™s uniform hours directive violate the federal voting rights act because they eliminate hours that are most likely used by low income Ohioans, senior citizens, students and minorities.

“We believe that the numbers will show that African Americans overwhelmingly use early voting in person as compared to white voters in Ohio.”

The Reverend Dale Snyder, leader of an African American Episcopal Church in Columbus, says these new changes will eliminate â€˜Souls to the Polls, a program that many black churches use to transport members to the polls on the Sunday before Election Day.

“These programs are not just about convenience,” Snyder says. “Many voters have difficulties getting away from their jobs to vote during the week hours. Others have transportation issues and mobility issues. Early voting opportunities provide genuine access. The voters served by our programs take their civic duties seriously.

“They want to go to the polls. They feel great pride when they place their ballot in the box. Giving these voters expanded options increases voter encouragement and contribution to a healthy democracy. How can this be a bad thing?”

But a spokesman for the Republican Secretary of State takes issue with this lawsuit. Matt McClellan says his boss has been a leader in making voting more accessible for Ohioans.

“I think itâ€™s ironic that the Secretary is being sued for treating all voters equally and supporting a bipartisan voting schedule that gives Ohioans an entire month to cast a ballot,” McClellan says.

McClellan says Hustedâ€™s directive eliminating in person early voting on the Sunday before Election Day in gubernatorial elections comes from a bipartisan effort.

“The hours that are in place now are based on the bipartisan recommendations from the Ohio Association of Election Officials,” says McClellan. “It does include Saturdays and in presidential elections, the recommendation does provide for early in person voting on the Sunday before the election.

“Now this plan is the only bipartisan plan on the table, despite the fact that Secretary Husted has long advocated for and called for passage of a bipartisan plan in the legislature that would establish uniform days and hours and code.”

McClellan says there are plenty of early voting opportunities in Ohio and he suggests the ACLU sue other states where no early voting opportunities are offered.

“The fact is that it is easy to vote in Ohio and the plaintiffs should be joining Secretary Husted in making sure all voters know their voting options rather than trying to scare them into believing itâ€™s hard. And quite frankly, thatâ€™s the real voter suppression.”

But the ACLU says laws that restrict voting options that are popular with minorities are a pattern in the Ohio legislature.

And they say itâ€™s time for lawmakers to focus on ideas like online voter registration â€“ an idea that Husted has supported â€“ and other proposals that make the voting process easier for minorities and everyone else.